Anne Mourier
Small white boxes on white pedestals contain a variety of miniature domestic objects enclosed in glass. The minimalist setup includes a partition wall, corner and shadow box wall displays that viewers can navigate. A pair of binoculars on a pedestal in the center of Cuchifritos’ gallery space encourages viewers to scrutinize the domestic scenes and interiors. The expectation of how work is typically displayed is altered, and viewers must seek and at times strain to see Mourier's work. The display requires viewers to look up, down, through, and into the episodic stagings.
Mini narratives include a dresser with woman’s interior clothing, tiny clothes hung up on a clothesline, a closed box with two windows allowing visibility straight through to the other side, and a little pile of dust/debris in the crack of an open door adjacent to a line up of brooms. These tableaus place the viewer in delicate, dwarfed, site-specific scenes frozen in time. The objects themselves conjure nostalgic sentiments about family and the household. Isolated doll arms that come out from the walls and the roof imply interaction with the objects, yet the absence of the arms’ bodies disassociates the interaction from anything real. Mourier utilizes the physical distance between shadow box scenes as well as arrangements on pedestals, walls, and corners to highlight the intimacy and personal space these scenes depict.
image from http://annemourier.artspan.com/large-multi-view/small%20worlds/286892-1-21770/small%20worlds.html#.VEBx7vldWHw
You did a good job of describing the different pieces in Anne Mourier’s show. Overall I think this review could use another round of editing for grammar and sentence structure/word choice. Some phrases are confusing, especially “woman’s interior clothing” – say women’s lingerie or women’s bras instead. Could you go a little more in depth about what feelings and memories the pieces evoke? The nostalgia is a good point, but maybe talk about how the fact that the arms and objects seem dissociated suggest not only physical detachment but emotionally as well. Good choice of picture!
ReplyDeleteThe descriptive language is great. I liked reading your take on the visual side of the show. I am especially interested in the "scrutinizing of domestic interiors" and how presentation and scale play a significance in determining how these works operate. Some of your language is a little confusing at time and your
ReplyDeletestructure seems a bit disorganized. You might want to break up the review into a couple paragraphs and add titles to the works that you are commenting on.